


Starcrossed

by Skye_Willows



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, I'd Grab The Tissues!, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Parallel Universes, Relationship Discussions, previous character death, sad fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25361254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Willows/pseuds/Skye_Willows
Summary: It was supposed to be simple, they’d done it a hundred or more time. Go in, have a tussle with some perps. Bring them back to the precinct, toss ‘em in the cells and then celebrate with some drinks or a takeaway. They had it down to an art now, they’d been doing this for years.Sometimes though, fate has other ideas.------------A bust goes wrong leaving two very broken people behind. In one universe Gavin is the one who dies on the job, while in the other it's Nines whose life is lost in the blink of an eye.One night the survivors meet, and realise just what might have been had their roles been reversed.
Relationships: Gavin Reed/Simon, Hinted Upgraded Connor | RK900/North, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Starcrossed

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So this fic was entirely inspired from a piece of art that I came across on Twitter! I'm waiting to hear back from the artist to make sure they are happy with me linking it before I publicise what/who it is.
> 
> **EDIT:[Aiden](https://twitter.com/r2y9s) has confirmed that it is all right to link the art, so please find it included in the first section. It's really sad so be braced for it!**
> 
> I'm a big sucker for physics based phenomenon (time travel, parallel universe, butterfly effect, I've written a few by now) so this just drew me in and was begging to be written.
> 
> I'd be amazed if this doesn't make some of you cry, I certainly cried while writing it!
> 
> In saying that, I hope all of you who have decided to give this a bash enjoy.

It was supposed to be simple, they’d done it a hundred or more time.

Go in, have a tussle with some perps. Bring them back to the precinct, toss ‘em in the cells and then celebrate with some drinks or a takeaway. They had it down to an art now, they’d been doing this for years.

Sometimes though, fate has other ideas. You can be snatched away by something as simple as a wrong placement of a foot on the steps. When you’re a cop though, facing lunatics and desperate people with guns, knives, drugs, explosives…It doesn’t have to be something as innocuous as an everyday object that gets you.

There’s two possible ways to start it off: either Gavin kicks in the door so that Nines can use his intimidation factor to cause enough surprise so that they get the upper hand (plus Gavin loves seeing Nines act so badass), or Nines hacks the door so that Gavin can creep inside. Lead the way so that they can make a quieter arrest.

Either option ends the same way – the first one to enter that accursed apartment won’t leave it alive.

Panic causes someone in a neighbouring room who was mixing volatile chemicals to unleash a devastating explosion. The one who entered the apartment first was on the left of the room, right next to the wall which was about to be blown apart while the other is taking cover behind a sofa at the other side.

How ironic that something as simple as who led the way dictated which one of them would be left to pick up the broken pieces of a life shattered apart.

For Gavin it’s instant: the force from the exploding wall breaks his neck, spares him any pain as the surroundings are ripped apart. Nines isn’t so lucky. While he’s struck in the exact same location and in essence has the same effect, it doesn’t kill him quickly. The damage spread from his neck components and causes irreparable damage to his mind palace. His systems are overwhelmed to the point that Nines is forced into stasis, staring at his own shutdown timer before everything goes dark and he ever has the chance to warn Gavin.

The end result is the same. Whichever detective survives finds their partner with fatal injuries. At least Nines knows that Gavin wouldn’t have felt it, humans are that much more fragile, not that it really comforts him as he’s left mourning for his beloved detective that was snatched away in the blink of an eye.

Gavin has to watch Nines’ LED blink and stutter for eight minutes as he waits for help, not knowing that there’s no chance of saving his android partner and love. By the time extra bodies arrive to see the carnage, Nines is gone and all they find is the broken shell of Gavin that remains.

A simple choice – who crossed that threshold first is the one that fate decided their time was up. In two different realities it leaves a grieving man to pick up the pieces of a union that was ripped apart so unfairly.

Ten years later, they weren't to realise that their wishes it was they who died in their partner’s places were about to be answered in an impossible way.

* * *

Gavin knew he was dreaming, there wasn’t a beach shore anywhere in the world that looked like this. He wondered if he should stop making hot chocolates before going to sleep though, this was decidedly weird...

What looked like sand certainly wasn’t. Instead it was a mirror, splintered and cracked along the full length of the beach as far as Gavin could see. Gavin could see between the cracks to what seemed to be a red sea beneath, which was just creepy when he could see a grey one off to his left. Where on earth had he conjured this madness from? It just didn’t make sense.

Three decades of being a cop though meant that he wasn’t going to sit around seeing as he was curious. What was going to linger further along this beach? That was a thought and a half, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was going to be as fantastical as this world he’d imagined.

At the other end of the beach, Nines blinked himself back to awareness but was caught off guard by what was before his eyes. Androids didn’t dream, even now they’d not perfected that technology and Nines had uninstalled his pre-construction technology years ago. The waking nightmares of it trying to desperately rewrite history in countless ways was almost like a messed up version of PTSD, driving Nines to have it removed so that he had at least a tiny semblance of peace. He didn’t need to be reminded of his failure and heartbreak so violently at random moments of the day.

So how could he be in this…place? He stared at the broken mirror he stood upon, seeing the supposed reflection of sand in the glass and the blue sea beneath. As he stepped forward he was bemused by how it crunched like the beach it was pretending to be rather than shards of glass. How curious…

Driven by a want to know more, Nines stepped forward and followed the cracks along the shoreline. Most of them were almost pointing him in a certain direction and he wondered what would be lurking at the end of the path.

Both of them traced the path until they came to what was a broken mirror barricading the way forward, seeing the fractured reflection of themself as they approached. Unaware of what lay beyond their individual sides, each of them reached a hand up to run along the edges of the cracks, only for the glass to shine white for a second and transform. No longer was it a mirror, it was a window.

Gavin’s heart was pounding out of his chest as he saw Nines while the android’s vision froze. He couldn’t understand how he was suddenly seeing Gavin…and not only that, it definitely wasn’t **his** Gavin.

This one was older, so much older. Greying hair which was starting to curl at the edges, beard with the same mixture of brown and grey rather than Gavin’s signature stubble and eyes that seemed just as lost as he felt. The sense of grief, want, longing…it was overwhelming to Nines.

At the other side of the window, Gavin’s fingers scraped against the surface as he took in his deceased former love. Nines looked similar to **then** , but there were definite differences. Scuffs on his face that looked like scars with the pale blue glow of an android, LED gone, clothes that were so different to anything that his Nines would have worn…

“Nines?” Gavin whispered, love bursting through his chest when the android’s expression crumpled and he sobbed quietly.

**_“Gavin,”_** Nines replied, eyes watering as he picked up all of the little details of this Gavin that weren’t familiar. Extra scars, tattoos up his arms which were visible through the t-shirt that Gavin was wearing… – and a titanium wedding ring on his left hand. Nines’ pump jumped at the presence of the ring, wishing that he was wearing a mirror image rather the imitation that was on his own right hand. He’d bought a ring for his Gavin the week before he’d died, now it was one of his mementos to his lost love that Nines never removed.

The pair stared at each other in astonishment before Gavin finally found his voice again, suddenly finding himself struggling to recollect how to talk. “You’re not my Nines,” he murmured, a slight understanding coming to Nines’ eyes too.

“And you’re not my Gavin,” the android told the human seriously, eyes still unable to be torn away from where their hands were resting in almost mirror positions. Were the glass not there, they would be touching. Nines’ pump pulsed with **want**. “You’re older than my Gavin.”

“Looks like you’re in the same boat, you’re older than my Nines I think. Things been rough for you?” Gavin chuckled wetly, unable to believe what a weird dream this was. It was strange that his mind had managed to conjure this version of Nines from…somewhere.

Nines shuddered in recollection and his eyes fell to the ‘sand’ below, the window cracking from where his fingers pressed against it in a burst of emotion. “I take it you mean the scars? They’re a reminder of what I’ve lost, to never make the same mistake again.”

Gavin’s heart lurched at the despondent tone and he wished this barrier didn’t exist between them for the umpteenth time. All he wanted at that moment was to hug Nines: feel and reassure him. “Everyone makes mistakes, Nines, you shouldn’t carry the burden with you as a scar if you don’t want to,” Gavin told him softly, which had Nines scoffing bitterly.

“You sound exactly like Connor,” he stated coldly. “There’s no escaping my failure though, I deserve this.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that,” Gavin scolded gently. The tender tone was what caused Nines’ self-loathing to break, letting out a few tears before his eyes raised to Gavin’s again. Despite all of the other differences, those eyes were exactly the same as he remembered last seeing them 10 years ago.

“How can I not, when my mistakes cost me you?” Nines begged brokenly, which caused Gavin to stare at him in wonder.

“What do you mean, Nines?”

Nines closed his eyes and manually shut down his recollection protocols, not needing the memory of his dead love to invade on this moment. “Don’t make me say it, please,” he pleaded. Gavin’s stare didn’t waver though and he was determined to not give in to what he was adamant was a dream. The silence became unbearable to Nines and he finally let out a choked sob before turning his attention back to Gavin.

“6th of May, 2043. We went to an apartment on the south side of the city, carrying out an arrest warrant for Lionel March. It was a simple plan, we were to enter the apartment and arrest him with any accomplices.”

“I remember,” Gavin whispered. “There’s no way I can forget that day: one the way there we argued playfully about where we were going to grab food from after dropping those shitbags off at the precinct. I wanted a burger but I’d had one two days earlier, you were adamant I wasn’t allowed another one. I was trying to bribe you with body tune-up when we got home.”

A wet laugh escaped Nines as he nodded. “Yes, we never did decide on a compromise – we no doubt would have continued our debate back at the precinct had…had everything not gone so **wrong**.” Gavin let Nines continue, suddenly wondering if this was a dream after all. He’d never seen his Nines so emotional and raw, it felt too **real**.

“We came up with a plan when we noticed that it was an electronic lock. After deliberating on an approach, we eventually decided on subtlety over physicality. I would hack the electronic lock on the door and we would obtain some photographic evidence…” Gavin’s heart lurched as he realised where Nines was going with his story, a sense of dread filling him.

That was the other plan he and his Nines had debated before going for the guns blazing approach. Now he knew why this Nines was so different: Nines was the mirror image of Gavin. A survivor who had been left behind through no-one’s fault, just that fate had decided their partner’s time was up.

“I died went there was an explosive chemical reaction in the next room, didn’t I?” he whispered, not missing when Nines nodded sharply. “Fuck…I lost my Nines the same way – we chose to break the door down and face them down instead. He burst in there, drew their fire and was hiding behind a cabinet when the place blew.” Gavin sobbed as he remembered blearily coming back to his senses with a ringing still in his ears, only to find Nines on the ground and his LED blinking red, growing ever slower. “By the time I got him out and into the hallway it was already too late. Found out later that he never had a chance: the damage would never have been able to be fixed.”

Nines stared at Gavin with new eyes after the explanation, suddenly realising that the man in front of him was very much real. “What date is it for you, Gavin?” he whispered.

“It’s 18th of June, 2053,” he bit out, pained. “Been over ten years since I lost you.” The android nodded in understanding, realising that they were strangely intertwined. Same dates, same events that had ripped them apart…

The only difference laid in which one of them had walked out of that room alive.

“As it is for me,” Nines murmured while looking at Gavin affectionately. “You look just as attractive at 50 as I’d thought you might.”

Gavin snorted affectionately and shook his head at the android’s statement. “Still need your eyes checked, even so many years later…” he chuckled while looking at Nines’ right hand, the one that was on the glass which held them apart. “You get married too?”

Nines shook his head sadly. “I never could. This is the ring I had bought for you before…” Gavin’s heart leapt to his throat and he swallowed hard: he’d found the ring box in his reality but had never opened it, he couldn’t bear to. The only ones who’d ever seen the ring were Connor and his now husband.

“I couldn’t bear to look when I realised what you’d been planning to do,” Gavin said sadly. “Connor was the one who confirmed it was a ring, that you’d been intending on proposing once you’d come up with a plan. I’ve never looked but I still have the ring and box, Simon told me that you’d found the perfect one and it inspired his own choice.”

“Simon…?” Nines wondered in astonishment, looking to the ring on Gavin’s left hand.

“Yeah, Simon,” Gavin laughed. “Same one you’re no doubt thinking about– after…you know, we all were grieving. Simon and I got talking purely by chance because he offered me some time to help out at the school he volunteered at, said it would probably take me mind off missing you so much. I started pouring it all out to him after I had a bit of a breakdown about a year after you died. We’ve been married for 4 years now.”

Nines’ eyes shone with slight tears: he was elated that this version of Gavin had managed to find happiness after tragedy, unlike himself. “I’m happy that you found someone and Simon is a kind soul, I can see you two as a good match.”

Gavin laughed quietly. “Yeah, he and Nina mean everything to me now. Looking forward to the day I can finally retire and enjoy more time with them.” At seeing Nines’ unspoken question, Gavin nodded. “Nina’s named after you, she was born two years ago. Swear she’s far too smart for a two-year-old, I think Connor’s tutoring my kid on the side with some freaky shit when he’s babysitting.”

“You seem to have your life pretty well set,” Nines smiled. “I’m glad.”

“Wasn’t always that way, was a spell of time where people didn’t trust me to not do something stupid until I finally let it all out…” Gavin admitted. “Once I finally confronted losing you though, I could finally step forward. Doesn’t mean I don’t miss you every day like fuck, but I’ve always hoped that you’d be proud of me.”

“I might not be your Nines but I was once. It isn’t the same but I’m proud of what you’ve done for yourself.”

That set Gavin off again and he sniffled a little while looking to his wedding ring, thinking of the serial numbers inscribed on the inside: Nines’ serial numbers. A suggestion from Simon when they’d finally decided to get married as a way to keep Nines with him physically. “Thank you. That does mean a lot to me,” Gavin whispered while looking to Nines. “From what you’ve said though, I’m guessing that life hasn’t been so kind for you.”

Nines let out a hollow laugh and he shook his head sadly. “No. I have not handled grief as gracefully as you have, Connor has often accused me of being in denial even ten years later. Being a part of the DPD after your death was too much for me, I’m engaged in other activities now. I still keep in contact with Connor and Hank, but beyond that…I couldn’t face most of the other significant people in our lives. Some of them couldn’t forgive me for your death and not taking more care.”

He could remember the venom behind Tina’s words after Nines gave them his footage of what had happened to Gavin, that their cavalier attitude by not calling in backup was what had ended up getting Gavin killed. She apologised for it a week later once some of the initial grief had abated, but by then Nines had deafened himself to the empty words because she’d been right. They hadn’t been careful enough, **Nines** hadn’t been wary enough, and Gavin had paid the ultimate price for his mistake.

“Bullshit!” Gavin snapped in anger. “How could anyone blame you for a freak accident?! I never faced any of that shit, who dared to accuse you of that?”

“It doesn’t matter now, it is ten years ago now,” Nines reminded him. “I have another life now but I don’t let myself forget what cost me everything before.”

Gavin stared at him sadly and decided to be honest. “I’m not your Gavin, just like you’re not my Nines, but I wouldn’t want my Nines to carry the scars like you do,” he said gently. “He wouldn’t blame you for what happened and it would break his heart to see you keep them like a mark of failure…it’s killing me seeing you so determined to punish yourself.”

He then laughed bitterly. “For years I wished that I could have traded places with you, made it so that you’d lived and I’d died in your place. I’m not sure knowing the other side of the choice makes living with what happened any easier.” Now that, Nines could agree on. Seeing what his Gavin missed out on hurt, even if it wasn’t with him. “It seems we weren’t meant to be, which fucking sucks…”

A thought occurred to Nines and he smiled a little broader. “Don’t be so sure, Gavin. Just because we never had that opportunity doesn’t mean others had to follow in our footsteps. There is a physics theory surrounding parallel universes that I think seems rather apt for us. It is theorised that any and all eventualities will play out among countless variations of reality. That means, somewhere, somehow, we both survived that day. Out there are versions of us that are happily married and living free lives. We may not have had that luck, but it doesn’t mean our romance was always doomed.”

Gavin’s smile grew to become more genuine. “Yeah, that thought does make me feel a little better…might do some research on that when I get home.”

Home.

When they each left this place they were going to be going back to a world without the other: back to their own realities where their former loves had been dead for ten years.

As much as the thought hurt, neither of them regretted this chance meeting. It was somewhat reassuring to see that the other managed to at least move past the tragedy and had made it another ten years. Neither of their lived were necessarily perfect but they were muddling their way through.

“I don’t want to step away,” Gavin admitted, to which Nines nodded in agreement.

“Neither do I, it’s the hardest thing I think I’ll ever have to do. It’s like I’m choosing to let you go this time,” Nines answered sadly.

Gavin could understand that keenly. “I’m not who you loved, Nines, this doesn’t change that…but I think I’m close enough that I hope you don’t mind if I say that I still love you just as much as the day I lost you. I’ll never stop loving you.”

Nines let out a long breath and stared at Gavin with tears running down his cheeks. “Nor will I cease loving you. I might not have been the best at dealing with grief until now but I promise to try and do better, to rebuild myself like you have. That’s probably a better way to honour you than what I have been doing until now.”

While Gavin was undeniably curious as to what Nines was avoiding, he decided it was better not to ask. If Nines wasn’t willing to share then it wasn’t up to him to prod. Instead he stood so that he was right in front of the glass, all but breathing on it. Nines mirrored his action and two of them pressed their lips to it as if meeting for a kiss. For a moment both of them could have sworn they felt a ghost of warmth make it through the barrier and it reminded them of long ago.

They at last parted and took their time simply staring at other before they came to the same daunting conclusion. It was time to go.

“Goodbye, Nines. Take care of yourself.”

“Goodbye, Gavin. I wish you happiness for the rest of your days.”

Their hands dropped from the glass and in an instant it transformed back to a mirror, leaving them only to see their own reflections. What had changed, however, was that they were now staring at a complete mirror rather than a fractured one. Both of them smiled at the change, feeling like a wounded part of their hearts had fixed itself.

Maybe the real world wouldn’t be so intimidating anymore.

* * *

When Gavin woke up it was to an excited two year old bouncing on the bed, or more specifically his back, pushing at him to take her on. “Come on Daddy, wake up!” she demanded with playful slap.

Gavin rolled his eyes, earning a laugh from next to him and he playfully glowered at his husband. “Why aren’t you pestering your Dad, huh?” Gavin pleaded while groaning at Nina’s energy. God, he was too old for this shit.

“I wasn’t the one who was silly enough to promise to take our darling girl to the fun fair today,” Simon chuckled while leaning over to kiss Gavin’s cheek before grabbing Nina and setting her on the floor. “Sweetie, why don’t you go grab the dresses you were looking at earlier and show your daddy, okay?”

“Okay!” Nina scarpered away and Gavin watched her go with a sad expression. After that dream where he’d had that chance encounter with Nines again, he couldn’t help but wish he’d told the android more about the little girl that was named after him: who might have been **their** daughter in another world.

Perhaps she was, somewhere. He was never to know – but that didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful for the life he’d managed to make now.

Simon picked up on Gavin’s expression and he placed a gentle hand on his husband’s shoulder. “Bad dream?” he guessed, at which Gavin shook his head.

“Far from it…but I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ll tell you about it once I’ve processed it, promise.” Simon nodded in agreement, knowing better than to push and Gavin was thankful for it. That was something that both Simon and Nines had known pretty quickly was how to handle his spitfire emotions: and they’d both had a way of calming him, acting as yin to his yang.

Gavin had to wonder whether Nines had found a similar balance in his reality.

Unable to help himself, later that day he finally opened the ring box from before and found a perfect copy of the ring he’d seen on the android’s right hand.

If ever he’d needed proof that what had happened was real, he had it right there – and it gave him more hope about what Nines had said before.

“Maybe somewhere we really do get our happy ending. Certainly beats the theory of starcrossed lovers.”

* * *

Nines came to again from stasis and took a moment to look down at the ring on his right hand, thinking on all that had transpired. His recollection of meeting that version of Gavin was perfect and all of his sensor logs across his body had matching data. Somehow it had been real, though Nines wasn’t sure how. There wasn’t a logical explanation for how two people from different realities had met within a dream.

He decided not to think too much on it and accept it for what it was. At least now he had the reassurance that Gavin was happy and safe, regardless of whether he was there or not. Someone was looking after him.

_Speaking of looking after…_

Clicking of guns could be heard from next room and Nines stood to enter it, taking scope of the sight in front of him. Not unusually, North was sat on the floor cleaning and inspecting all of their weapons in preparation for the day ahead. When Nines entered she looked up and gave him a lazy smile.

“I thought you didn’t lie in,” she joked while Nines rolled his eyes.

“I don’t, I just had a lot to think about,” he replied with his usual biting tone but North was used to it. In all honesty she took his snappish attitude and hurled it right back at him: the feistiness was something that Nines craved and needed like a drug. It also reminded him of what he shared with Gavin, though he’d not been willing to admit it to himself before now.

Unlike from what he’d seen of the other Gavin, Nines did not deal with the death of his beloved anywhere near as elegantly. Disillusioned with the world and endlessly bitter at what was stolen from him he’d quit the DPD to turn his hand to something better suited to his talents…even if they were less than legal. Two years later North had joined him following a tip off from Connor about Nines’ whereabouts and they’d been partners since.

He and Gavin used to joke that they were partners in crime…it turned out to be quite the apt description of himself and North since they were now vigilantes with rather a reputation of leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.

After what he’d seen an experienced with the other version of Gavin though, Nines had to take a long look at himself. He’d never really grieved and accepted his Gavin’s death, it was easier to shut himself away from to world and let the rage consume him. North had been trying but not getting very far in bringing him out of that state, but maybe now was the time.

“You all right? You’re spacing,” she noticed, putting the weapons down to give Nines a long look. Nines didn’t answer verbally and instead looked down at his ring, to which an understanding look came to North’s face as she placed her hand over Nines’ own. “He’s on your mind, huh?”

Nines nodded and grasped back, needing the grounding touch. It wasn’t something he often sought out but North understood him better than anyone – she’d been burned by the world too. “I think I need to talk to someone,” Nines admitted without any other context but she picked up on his meaning quickly. Smiling slightly, she gave Nines’ hand a squeeze before going back to their weapons and tossing him a sniper rifle.

“Tell you what, why don’t I set you up with Simon once we’ve taken out our next mark? He’s the least judgemental person I know and is good at helping people deal with grief. I mean, he listens to my shit constantly so he’s going to be able to listen to yours,” North offered.

There was a colossal irony to North’s suggestion but Nines laughed quietly in agreement. Seemed that even now he and Gavin were intertwined. The same man was liable to help them both grieve and move on, if in different ways.

His Gavin wouldn’t want him to be like this anymore. For once, Nines wanted to try living for him again rather than just existing.

“Sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> ...I hope you guys still have a heart left. Sorry!
> 
> If you want to read some more angst, I have a multitude of fics with both happy and sad endings (sometimes both!) on my profile.
> 
> Until next time everyone!


End file.
